You made that out of paper?

So in the wonderful world of Pinterest, I came across a beautiful quilled flower, this one posted below, actually:

What caught my eye most was the pattern within the pettals – it’s no where NEAR anything I had ever seen quilled before. I was in love instantly, and went on a mad hunt to find out what it was.

It is a new technique called “beehive”, created by a creative Indonesian quiller named Susan, over on her blog Susan Quilling. I also realized a short while later that it was mentioned in the most recent issue of Quill America, with them listing a link to this blog: http://quillingmesoftlee.blogspot.com/

So, between doing the laundry, the dishes, making lunch, and tearing apart my entire closet so DH could get in the attic to see why the roof is leaking, I decided that i just HAD to try out this technique, and this is how I did it.

Upon doing some research on youtube of some video tutorials, I figured that the outide shape size that I wanted to use would be a strip around 22-24″ long, and was wrapped around a ruler 2″ wide.

I started out by choosing the colors I wanted to use. I chose 5 colors of my Lake City colors: Fuchsia, Sunset Red, Melon, Yellow, and Spring Green. I wanted the outine shape to fade from one color to the next, so I divided 22″ by 5 for the colors I was using, and tore a 4 1/2″ strip of each color.

I then glued them together in the order I chose to make one long strip.

Next, I used my quilling comb to wrap the paper for the outline shape. I wapped around pegs 1 and 12. Note: If you are using multiple colors like I did, it may be best to keep the last strip at a longer length so you can end it at the top to help hide the seam. I didn’t think of that :o)

Once I had wrapped my shape around the quilling comb, I took it off and formed it into the shape I wanted, a teardrop.

For the inside shape, I wanted to have fun with colors, so I started by tearing up the rest of my strip of paper into 2″ strips. I ended up with 9 pieces in each color.

I then glued the pieces together to form a long strip, approximately 39″. To pump up to color fun for my filling, I made 2 strips like this, each around 39″, and decided to curl them together.

I lined both piece together, and started quilling about an inch down from the end of the strips, until the end was in the curl. I then moved down again about another inch and curled again, until I had one long strip of curls! I decided to end my strip when I had used about 20″ of my original 39″ strip.

I then stuffed all of my curls into my outline shape. Note: stuff your shape on a flat surface and don’t pick it up while stuffing, or your quills will fall out.

Lastly, I glued between where any of the curls touched the outline piece or another curl: This helps to keep everything in place.

Ta Da! I used the other half of my 39″ strip to fill another piece. I think I’ll seal these and make them into earrings to sell in my Etsy shop.

First off, kudos to WordPress for having an iPhone app with the ability to update my blog while in bed :o)

Secondly, I’m so thankful tonight for the ability to come home from work and not have to think about anything! This past Friday night, the hubby came home from work with a fever, aka the same crud I’ve been fighting with for the last 2 weeks. I’ve pretty much been running at full speed since then: taking care of/worrying about him (my mom implanted motherly instinct at a young age), cleaning up the house, trying to get myself better, and other miscellaneous extra house and work duties. I needed a break.

It was so wonderful to come home to a quiet and empty house that would continue to be that way for a few more hours. ::insert sigh of relief::

I started the night out with a need to mess with my silhouette cameo cutting machine. I have been messing with it on and off for a couple of months trying to get it to cut my rose templates out. Hail to the victor, because I got it figures out!

By the time I figured out the how to cut the flowers and the proper sizes for each of them, my hubby had returned home from work again, quickly finding his way to the couch next to me and dozing off immediately. The cutting on the machine didn’t even wake him. Since I know he needs to rest, I made the decision not to cut flowers out tonight, but rather go up to my studio in the attic to finish up my daisy treasure pots.

I started making these pots a few days ago when I really needed a break from all the circles for for my flower earrings. I really wanted to get some quilling done in my studio. Since most all of the equipment to make these pots is in my studio, it wasn’t a bad idea.

Tonight mostly consisted of shaping the pot bases and lids, sealing them, and gluing on petals.

They go nice with my sunflower treasure pots. I think I probably will put leaves on these pots as well.